Arkansans applaud Clinton's pick

Hillary Clinton visits a memorial to victims of the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando, Fla., on Friday before she
announced Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., as her running mate.
Hillary Clinton visits a memorial to victims of the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando, Fla., on Friday before she announced Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., as her running mate.

Hillary Clinton found not only a running mate she can trust handling executive work but also one who can help her appeal to political centrists, Arkansas Democrats said about U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia after his addition to the Democratic presidential ticket Friday.

Kaine, a former mayor and governor, built inroads with fellow members of his party in Arkansas while serving in the U.S. Senate, as Democratic National Committee chairman from 2009 to 2011, and alongside then-Gov. Mike Beebe when Kaine was chairman of the Southern Governors' Association from 2008 to 2009.

"It's a great pick," Beebe said in an interview shortly after Kaine was announced. "He's a solid guy, someone that's a good thinker. Since he's been in the Senate, he's added a lot of foreign policy experience."

More important than Kaine's tenure on the Senate Foreign Relations and Armed Services committees, Beebe said, voters in Arkansas will look toward Kaine's executive experience running Virginia, which Beebe said is similar to Arkansas in its diversity of people and geography.

"He's consistent with what most Arkansans are comfortable with. He's decisive, deliberate and he's smart," Beebe said.

The only Arkansas Democrat to serve with Kaine in Washington, former U.S. Sen. Mark Pryor, said the former "purple state" governor was well-liked by both Republican and Democratic colleagues, with whom he is known to forge bipartisan compromises.

Pryor served with Kaine from 2013 to 2015. However, in an interview Friday, Pryor said he felt the two had been together on Capitol Hill for four or five years, and he was surprised to learn it was only two. The other senators used to joke with Kaine, Pryor said, by calling him "His Excellency," the proper way to address governors in Virginia.

"I cannot think of someone ever saying they were mad at Tim Kaine," Pryor said.

For those outside his political circle, Kaine comes across as a "hard-working, sincere public servant," former Arkansas Attorney General Dustin McDaniel said.

McDaniel spoke Friday about Kaine on his way to Philadelphia, where he will serve as a "super-delegate" for the Clinton ticket next week at the Democratic National Convention.

McDaniel said he has seen Kaine speak several times. One of those occasions was in 2009 when Kaine, serving as the Democratic Committee chairman, visited Little Rock for a party fundraiser at a time when Democrats held most federal and state offices in Arkansas.

"He's one of only a handful of people in the country who has executive experience being a mayor, a governor and a U.S. senator," McDaniel said, adding that experience is important to the vice president's unlikely -- but most serious role -- of serving in place of the president.

That's not a role Clinton, a former secretary of state and U.S. senator from New York, takes lightly, said Skip Rutherford, a longtime friend of the Clinton family who is dean of the University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service. In addition to Kaine's executive experience, Rutherford said Clinton was sure to have considered the political clout Kaine brings to the ticket.

"There's no doubt Virginia is a key state. It's a battleground state, and he's a very popular senator there," Rutherford said.

Should Kaine visit Clinton's former home state while on the campaign trail, Democrats said Arkansas voters would find Kaine relatable.

"His faith is something that people would relate to here," Pryor said of Kaine, who is Catholic. "It's very deep to him and personal. He's not ashamed to to talk about it."

Kaine even received compliments from an Arkansas Republican.

In an emailed statement about his colleague, U.S. Sen. John Boozman echoed Pryor's kind words about the Virginian's personality and faith.

"Though we disagree politically, I have had the pleasure of working with and developing a friendship with Sen. Kaine as co-chairs of the Senate Prayer Breakfast," Boozman said. "He is a great example of being able to disagree without being disagreeable."

A Section on 07/23/2016

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